Preview: Anik Dutta’s new Bengali Film ‘Aschorjo Prodip; After Ghosts its Genies now

Anik Dutta’s new Bengali film ‘Aschorjo Prodip’ is a satirical fantasy that narrates a strange story of a common man and a magical Genie (miniature form of a Giant).

After the grand commercial plus critical success of the Mega Blockbuster “Bhooter Bhobisyot”, it seems that ace filmmaker Anik Datta is finally ready with his fresh film, named “Aschorjo Prodip”. The plot is loosely based on Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay’s satiristic comedy, bearing the same name. This is a modern day fantasy tale and deals with contemporary consumerist society and consumerist trends. What happens when a salesman suddenly becomes the owner of The Magic Lamp? The Lamp, with a Genie within. A Genie who can solve all the problematic miseries those essentially surrounds a human life with his super magical super powers.

During 2009-2010, Mumbai based Bengali Filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh (of Kaahani fame) also have written and directed a Comical fantasy in Hindi, which was based on a similar plot outline & was named “Aladin”, which starred Ritesh Deshmukh as Aladin, Jacquine D’Souza as Jasmine , Sanjay Dutt as the evil Magician and Amitabh Bacchan as Genie. Though the film did not do that well at the box office, still BIG B’s performance as the old Genie was appreciated by the film critics.

Also way back in 1988-1989 Sonex Production Private Limited has also produced a 15 episodes Television Serial for DD Bangla, also named ‘Aschorjo Prodip’, which featured superstar Ranjit Mullick as the protagonist Aniket and Sabyasachi Chakraborty as Prodip Das, the Genie. Incidentally this Bengali TV Serial was also officially adopted from the same Shirsendu Mukhopadhyay novel and was directed by the theater maestro late Jochan Dastidar (of ‘Tero Parbon’ & ‘Uron Chondi’ fame). It seems that Anik Dutta has thoroughly reworked on the story & screenplay, considering the varied tastes of modern urban audiences and this new ‘Aschorjo Prodip’ won’t be just a broader silver screen version of the 1989 Doordarshan TV Serial.

Anik Datta’s film features Saswata Chatterjee as the protagonist and Rajatava Dutta as Genie of the Magic Lamp. The film also stars Sreelekha Mitra as Saswata’s wife and Mumtaz Sorcar as an established model. As an avid admirer of Anik Datta’s style of storytelling, I can vouch on the fact that an educated urban audience can very well expect Anik’s trademark dry sense of humour and lots of laughs in “Aschorjo Prodip”.

Now let’s patiently wait & watch whether this 2013 Magic Lamp can also lit up the box office collections!!! And also if the magic of satirical comic fantasy, which is Anik Datta’s favorite genre of storytelling, strikes the right chord in the intellects of educated urban audiences, this time as well.